Brother Cadfael is a monk who specializes in herbal remedies.... and murder! The Brother Cadfael series by Ellis Peters is a very good example of an historical cozy mystery.  Before there were forensic pathologists and laboratories à la CSI, many times murders passed as accidents. But not so while Brother Cadfael was around! He could put the Miami, New York City, and any other city's CSI unit to shame! And, he did all of this using utensils such as spoons, knives, and bottles, not all of those television fancy fantasy techniques for him! Brother Cadfael could tell you the "who, what, when, where, how, and even why" facts needed to solve a murder or crime.

Katherine Hall Page   With a BA from Wellesley, an MA from Tufts, and a Doctorate from Harvard, it's no wonder that Katherine Hall Page is now the first person to ever receive Best First Novel, Best Novel, and Best Short Story in the entire history of Malice Domestic! (Also, she writes a mystery series for ages (+/-) 5th-8th grade, featuring three boarding school girls who not only study, but also sleuth!) (I know I have said this before... I love it when best selling authors write books for children!)
Robin Paige   aka (Best Selling) Susan Wittig Albert & husband Bill Albert... Victorian Mystery Series...

Linda Palmer   Her young widow sleuth is a writer for a soap opera...

Stuart Palmer    aka Jay Stewart... His more famous series featured an older, spinster sleuth who "works with" a police officer, who considers her both a friend and a nuisance.  This combination of female sleuth/policeman "friend and foe" was perfected by early authors such as Palmer... in the 1930s!

Sara Paretsky   V. I. Warshawski series...

Barbara Parker    A New York Times Bestselling author, Parker was previously a prosecuting attorney. One of this website's visitors recommended Parker's successful Suspicion mystery series to me. I have yet to read her books, but have definitely added Parker to my list of authors to read!

Robert B. Parker   I have to confess that I have not read any of Parker's novels... yet. I just became aware that he wrote the Spenser (for Hire) books, and also the Jesse Stone mystery series. I just saw my first Jesse Stone movie and I am hooked!

James Patterson   Not Cozy... Police Procedural... Alex Cross, psychologist series & the Women's Murder Club series. Both are best sellers.... Also, Patterons is writing a "Young Adults" series. I know I have said this before, but I absolutely love it when established authors write books for younger readers. I am quite certain that both my son and daughter would have loved reading these books when they were younger...

Richard North Patterson   Can you tell from reading his books that he was an Assistant Attorney General of Ohio? Although he doesn't write cozies, I enjoy him immensely.

Beth Pattillo   Pattillo is one of the authors who pens a Mystery and the Minister's Wife book. This series is unique in that each book is written by different authors (some of the authors pen more than one book in the series.) Other authors of the series include Diane Noble, Traci DePree, Carol Cox,  Eve Fisher. It is an inspirational mystery series...

Barbara Paul   Paul, at one time, did not want to write a mystery series... But that was before she started writing either of her two mystery series: the Marian Larch Mystery Series and the Opera Mystery Series... along with several Stand Alone mystery books and short stories that have appeared in many anthologies...

Paula Paul  (aka Paula Carter)   Paul, a journalist by trade, is the author of the Alexandra Gladestone Mystery Series which is set in Victorian England. As Paula Carter, she writes the Murder by Design Mystery Series which is set in Alabama.

Cynthia Peale   Peale writes the Victorian Boston Beacon Hill Mystery Series, which features a brother and sister sleuthing team...

Iain Pears:  Pears first got his doctorate at Oxford in Art History, and then discovered his knack for writing mysteries which take place in the art world, and feature Jonathan Argyll, a British art historian and dealer. Pears is not only a historian and author, but also has worked as a television correspondent/consultant.

Joanne Pence   With a master's degree in journalism, it is no small wonder that Pence has an award-winning series that features a journalist. Unlike Pence, however, her main character is a gourmet cook...

Sharon Kay Penman   Penman (an ex-tax lawyer) writes several acclaimed historical series. The Medieval Mystery Series takes place in late twelfth century England...

Louise Penny    Penny, a journalist, hosted radio talk shows on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation before deciding to write novels full-time. Her Three Pines mysteries have won many prestigious mystery book awards... including the Anthony, Barry, Dylis, New Blood Dagger, and Arthur Ellis awards.

Anne Perry  I haven't read any of her novels, but she has a lot of fans. She has several British series to choose from...

Thomas Perry  Perry (Ph.D. in English) writes the Jane Whitefield Mystery Series which features a Seneca Wolf Clan member who hides people... who need to disappear...  

Elizabeth Peters  aka Barbara Michaels & Barbara Mertz... She has her doctorate (and a passion) for Egyptology. As Mertz, she writes archaeological non-fiction.

Ellis Peters  aka Edith Pargeter... Brother Cadfael is an absolutely wonderful series to become addicted to... Also, Peters wrote a series about the British Felse family of detectives....

Rhona Petrie   aka Clare Curzon, Eileen-Marie Duell Buchanan, Marie Buchanan... That's a lot of pseudonyms/names for a Vedy British author of Vedy many series...

R. Michael Phillips    Phillips is an artist who has been painting for over three decades. He writes the Ernie Bisquets Mystery Series which features an art forger who ends up working with the East London Adventurers Club solving mysteries while searching for antiquities.

Nancy Pickard    Pickard has two series of her own: the Marie Lightfoot  series, and the Jenni Cane series. She collaborated with Virginia Rich on the fourth Eugenia Potter mystery novel, and wrote the next two books in that series.

Cathy Pickens     Pickens writes about what she knows... both she and her main character (Avery Andrews) are lawyers and live in the Carolinas. Don't expect to find recipes in Pickens' Southern Fried Mystery Series... for that you can get reference a cookbook!

Rhonda Pollero     Pollero's F. A. T. (Finley Anderson Tanner) Mystery Series has been recommended to be included on the site...She is not only a sleuthing paralegal, but a shopaholic to boot!

Suzanne Price    Price is actually a husband and wife writing team. They just put out their first Grime Solvers Mystery in '07...

Sandra West Prowell   A series set in Montana...

Mary Monica Pulver  aka Monica Ferris & half of the duo who wrote as Margaret Frazer for the first of the Sister Frevisse novels.  Ferris writes a needlecraft mystery series and Pulver writes an equestrian mystery series.

Ann Purser    Now that all seven days of the week can be accounted for, Purser is calling her series the Lois Meade Mystery Series, which will include all seven of the "Days of the Week" mystery books (former name of the series) and then some! Set in a cozy, English village...

Ellery Queen  Queen is the pseudonym of cousins (Manfred Bennington Lee and Frederic Dannay) who collaborated on the Ellery Queen novels and stories... While they used the name "Ellery Queen" as their pseudonym, they also used the name "Ellery Queen" as the character who is a novelist as well as a sleuth. And, of course, let us not forget the very popular Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine which has been in publication since 1941...

Monica Quill   aka Ralph McInerny.... As Quill, the series is Sister Mary Teresa, living in Chicago.....

Spencer Quinn   aka Peter Abrahams... As Spencer Quinn he writes the Chet and Bernie Mystery Series, which is told from Chet's point of view. Chet is the loyal dog of Bernie Little... I absolutely love to find authors (especially mystery authors!) who are really successful authors, and who then decide to write mysteries for children and/or young adults. Abrahams is one of those authors. As Abrahams, he is not cozy...

Back to "N & O" Authors *****          ***** "R" Authors